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- "Avete una birra straniera?"
39 Comments
You are right: we say "domestic" beer if it's made in the US, otherwise we say "imported". If you want to specify the country, then you say "German beer," "Mexican beer," etc., but I've never heard "foreign beer."
1815
We use foreign beer more frequently than imported over here in England. We'd probably call your beer American though.
Who cares? This is a course designed to learn Italian, not English. You should be interested in the meaning of the Italian, not how it's rendered in English.
I agree, why obsess over a marginal English interpretation. Hai una birra straniera? Would be more worthy of discussion
The Italian word "straniera" is related to "strange" as in "foreign", "stranger". The correct association is "a foreign beer" to learn the Italian sense.
The Italian verb meaning "to import" is "importare", and the adjective is "importat[o/a/i/e]".
- "una birra importata"
Thank you! Would it be more common in Italian to say "an imported beer" or a foreign beer"?
This is such an interesting thread! In American English we would say "an imported beer." This, maybe, says something about our economic focus? And maybe the connotation around the word "foreign"?
This sentence sounds odd; "Do you have any foreign beer" would probably be more common. "a foreign beer" could be right in some situations, but unfortunately, there is no context given. A lack of context is one of the biggest problems with most of the phrases that appear on Duolingo.
Agreed. The sentence is slightly odd in Italian as well.
It could be anyhow implied that the person is referring to the tap beer of the bar or restaurant, in this way it could make sense. But you need to use your fantasy. :)
Yes, you are absolutely right, but I think that they want to focus on "UNA birra". Like, sure, if you are translating this sentence for an article or whatever, you would want it to make sense, and be natural, so you would translate it to "do you have any foreign beer?" But I think that the reason they translate most sentences literally is so they can underline and focus on the sentence in ITALIAN per se, not the way it is used in English. Honestly, thus, I see the difference much more clearly.
the translation for straniera was "foreigner". Is that a correct translation or should it be reported?
la straniera is a noun meaning 'foreigner'. straniero/a/i is an adjective and means 'foreign'
I think it should give the adjective 'foreign' as well as the noun 'foreigner'.
The proper translation in English would absolutely be "do you have imported beer" or "any imported beer". No one ever says "foreign beer" in English! This exposes the limitations of this admittedly free website. But the point here is to learn how Italians say it, not how English speakers say it.
I might ask for a foreign beer, but I am not a big beer drinker so I don't know if that's unusual.
But since we're striving and also are obliged to make the only correct translation, even if, in this context, the literal sense is "foreign", at least "imported" needed to be added to the possible correct translations. I guess they should've know what translation actually means and how it functions.
Being English the use of foreign beer is quite right. It would be used more than imported while may be imported is more politically correct generally the use of foreign beer is the correct one.
Yes, or at least here in Australia we do. Do you want a beer? - it is understood that I am offering you the usual quantity (a can or a stubby or a pint or...)
Asking something like this in an italian bar, would it be more common to ask with "hai" - to the one person you're talking to - or "avete" - talking about the bar as a company or group?
Also wondering about this! My fiancé and I are traveling to Italy in a few months and would love to know the proper way to ask.
There probably is a different word for imported and it probably wouldn't make too much sense in Italian. Remember it is our responsibility to interpret the translation to best suit the situation. "foreigner/foreign beer" can easily be readjusted to "imported beer", it just takes an extra second to recognize what either duo or the speaker is trying to convey.
How can I be sure is the sentence a statement or a question? Will the statement also will sound like "Avete una birra straniera......."?
The difference is intonation and/or whether or not there is a question mark at the end. However I believe Duolingo accepts both (I've left the question mark off at times and still been marked correct). In real life you would use context and intonation to tell.
I think the word "foreign" is used more and more often in a negative way in the UK. As in "I don't drink foreign beer, give me something British!" In a pub I would definitely recommend asking for either "imported beer" or being even more specific, eg "Do you have any German beer?" or "Do you have Peroni?"
Hai is avere for 2nd person singular - "you have" when "you" refers to only one person.
Avete is avere for 2nd person plural - "you have" when "you" refers to more than one person
I thought the sentence was: "Do you have a beer, stranger?", which I thought was just another odd duolingoism. Lol.
Can that be understand as, have you had a foreign beer? - as in, have you tried one, tasted one
